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Friday, February 01, 2008

Passing On the Faith

On August 20, 2005 Valentina, one of the babushka's in our church family, was baptized into Christ. She had been attending classes and worship for several years when she decided to give her life to Jesus. Less than six months later Valentina and her husband moved to Russia to be closer to their children. While she was excited to be closer to family, she hated to leave her church family. Recently she visited with us while in Gorlovka. She met with the babushkas at class on Wednesday and shared an interesting story. These are her words through translation...

"When I moved I missed my spiritual family so much. I sat and cried for many days. For almost a year I was sad and feeling depressed because I missed my church family and I could not find another one in the city where I now live. Then it occurred to me, I can start a spiritual family. So I talked with several of my neighbors and invited them to my flat for a Bible study and for tea. Now we have about five ladies who gather every week, just like we did in Gorlovka."

She asked me if I could give her some resources to help her lead the studies with these ladies, which I was glad to provide for her. Please be praying for Valentina and her group of students. I am reminded of the passage in Acts that says, "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." (Acts 8:4)

The photos are of Valentina with Katya and Valentina (far right) with six other ladies who were baptized on the same day.